This invention relates to the completion of subsea wells for the transfer of well fluid from the well to the surface.
United States Patent No. 3,721,294, issued to Nelson, discloses an underwater pipe connection apparatus for connecting a Christmas tree flowline on a subsea well to a flowline which has been laid from a storage facility downwardly to the oil well. One of the purposes of the connection apparatus of the Nelson patent is to permit the use of a standard, less expensive guide structure which has guidelines extending upwardly form the well to the operating vessel at the surface. The apparatus of the Nelson patent includes a pulling device having two funnels with wirelines passing therethrough into connection with the surface vessel and the storage flowline so that the flowline can be pulled into alignment for connection with the Christmas tree flowline.